Raven's Blood

by Cassandra Lawson

Chapter Thirty-Four

  Connor didn’t come for Raven until nearly dark. Muriel was exhausted when he got there, so it was definitely time to leave. She’d refused to sleep until Raven left.

  Raven hugged Muriel, which caused her friend to start weeping, making her hope the post-baby hormones settled down soon.

  “I don’t want you to leave me!” Muriel wailed.

  “I said Connor will let me go back if there is a danger to our friends,” Raven pointed out. “I’ll try to come back to see you if that happens. I’m not even sure how we got onto this stupid hypothetical discussion, but it’s pretty unlikely I’ll need to leave, right Connor?”

  Connor let out a weary sigh. “I want to reassure you everything is fine and we don’t think your friends are in danger, but I just don’t know,” he admitted. “Dr. Moon is running some tests to figure out what’s going on with the virus, but he won’t have any answers for a week. I just don’t have enough information to make a good guess.”

  Raven’s unease grew, but she pasted on a bright smile for Muriel’s benefit. The last thing she wanted was to upset her friend even more. “See? If Connor thought there was any way he could give us a doom and gloom prediction, he would. He has no idea what’s going on, and it might be nothing. Maybe it’s just a fluke with a few turned vampires.”

  Muriel nodded and seemed to relax some, but Raven knew she was lying to her friend. Connor was worried and suspected something really bad. They all remained silent on the drive to Norah’s home. Norah lived just down the street and assured them she could walk, but Connor refused to let her.

  “Are we going to have another lesson tomorrow?” Norah asked.

  Connor laughed, but it was a distracted laugh. “Sure, but I don’t know how many people will show up. Ian and Simon were both a little sore today.”

  “And you?” Raven asked.

  “Me too,” he admitted with the first genuine smile he’d given her since arriving to pick her up. “I’ll make sure you can train with Norah.”

  “Nine?” Norah asked.

  Connor nodded before walking Norah to the door.

  “Bad trip into the city?” Raven asked when Connor returned to the jeep.

  Connor shrugged but didn’t answer. The trip home was tense. Raven knew Connor was on edge about everything happening, but he also seemed distant, almost angry.

  “You’ve been a really good friend to Norah,” Connor said. “I wish I’d introduced you to her when you first got here. She’s been pretty closed off from the rest of the world. For a while, I thought losing Rand would kill her. She only started opening up to me about six months ago, and even then, she didn’t want to leave her house.”

  “You love her?” Raven asked.

  “Yes,” Connor replied with a nod, looking distant and thoughtful.

  Raven felt a strange twinge of jealousy. Not that she thought Connor loved Norah in a romantic way, but Connor definitely loved her. Their bond had lasted nearly a century. Raven’s friends all had limited life spans. She hadn’t seen any of the wood nymphs in years. At first, she would occasionally see one of them when she was running through the woods, but it seemed they had decided to avoid her in the last fifty years. She’d never really fit in, but it had been comforting to see people she’d known since childhood. There were times when it was hard being surrounded by people who were just going to die. That was one thing that was comforting about the vampires. She knew Connor could still be killed in any number of ways. He was a warrior, and that meant he put his life at risk most days. Still, he wouldn’t grow old or contract one of the myriad of diseases that plagued humans.

  Finally, Connor spoke. “I think Norah is probably my best friend, and that’s another reason I feel like such a dick for avoiding her when you got here. It is a little ironic though.”

  “Why is that?” Raven asked.

  “Norah did her best to avoid me after she met Rand. It was funny because she really hated him at first, or so she told Jack. I couldn’t get anywhere near her. The woman managed to avoid me for nearly a month, and I couldn’t figure out why. It was really starting to piss me off. I still get mad when I think about it.” He had a far off happy look on his face. Despite his words, it was obviously a good memory. “So, I decided I was going to track her down and make her explain herself. When I finally found her, she looked like she was about to punch Rand in the face. It was a shock since Norah is the least confrontational vampire I know. Actually, my mother is less confrontational, but Norah’s a close second. Rand was also over a foot taller than Norah. The man was huge.”

  “What did you do?”

  “Nothing,” Connor replied. “I was going to step in when Rand leaned forward to argue with Norah. That is until she grabbed Rand’s hair and kissed him. I could already tell I didn’t want to be around for the rest of that confrontation.”

  “So, you just walked way?” Raven asked. She didn’t think that sounded much like Connor.

  “Well,” he began, obviously amused, “I took a picture on my phone first and sent it to her. I figured it would save her the trouble of telling me what was going on. I think she was afraid my feelings would be hurt or something like that. We’d been sleeping together off and on for decades.”

  “Is that why you didn’t introduce me to her?” Raven asked.

  “Nope,” he replied. “I knew she wouldn’t be jealous or angry. Norah’s my best friend, and I was worried she’d tell me something I didn’t want to hear. In fact, the first time I saw her after you got here, she made me realize how much I wanted you. Part of me was afraid you’d be bothered that I’d slept with her, but mostly I was afraid she’d see things I didn’t want to admit to.”

  Raven’s breath hitched in her throat. She wanted so much to hear she really mattered to Connor. At the same time, she didn’t want to hear those words, knowing it would make it harder to do the right thing if her friends were in danger. She spared him a quick glance, and his eyes held such desire and love, it was almost her undoing.

  They were in the driveway to his house, and Connor was staring at her expectantly. She wasn’t sure what he was hoping she’d say, but she could tell there was something he wanted from her. She knew what he wanted to hear, and she felt like a coward for denying him.

  She looked down at her hands and laughed nervously.”I guess it’s lucky for you I’m such a pain in the ass. There’s no way you have to worry about falling in love with me.”

  Connor sighed and got out of the jeep. Raven stepped out, and he was already around to her side. He took her hand in his, and she looked up into his eyes. The light from the full moon framed Connor’s face, making him look fiercer. She reached out to stroke his cheek, and he caught her hand against his face. They stood there for a long time, just staring at each other. The spell was finally broken by Fang’s howl.

  Connor looked over and smiled at Fang, who was watching them from the window. “Poor boy is lonely after being left here all day. I should have taken him with me.”

  Raven nodded. “We really should go upstairs and spend time with him. He’ll be ready to rejoin his pack soon.”

  Connor shook his head. “He doesn’t want to. He might if you leave, but for now he’s happy with our pack. We may need to find a mate for him when he’s older.”

  Once again, Raven was shocked by Connor’s understanding of the wolf’s desires. He was right; Fang considered them pack, and he wanted to stay with them. “Did something happen in the woods the day we found Fang?”

  “You mean other than getting attacked by turned vampires and adopting a wolf?” he asked.

  She laughed, but she knew it sounded forced. She was probably reading too much into this, and he was simply guessing Fang’s feelings by the way he acted. There was no reason to feel suspicious, or hopeful.